For the last two months, my mouth has run away with my brain.
I can't seem to turn it off. (My mouth.)
How do I get some discipline back in thinking before I speak. What subtle things can I use to help me remember (in work situations) to just shut up and keep it to myself?
This is truly bothering me. (And probably my co-workers, as well.)
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
How 'bout counting to 5? (10 just gives too long of a pause..)
When I was doing mooting, we used to get in the habit of either taking a sip of water or flicking through our notes after a judge finished a question - it gave us enough time to compose ourselves and our answers so it sounded polished.
I guess that won't really work in a social or office situation - on the other hand, your water intake (and subsequent trips to the toilet) would increase!
(Edit: inconsistent use of plurals. Jon Boy has made me paranoid!)
posted
Shan, there's a technique you can use for this type of problems. Here it is:
You make a two column table of days you go to work in. Then, for each day, at the end of it, you put the number of times you opened your BIG BAD MOUTH before going through your brain (<-- as i did just now), and in the other column, the number of times you wanted to say something bad, thought a little bit about it, and then said something else, better. In order for it to work better, write the first column in red, the second one in green - red is very irritating to see, so you wanting an entirely green column is going to be another reason for correcting your problem. If you REALLY want to solve this, it's gonna work in 3-4 weeks.
Hope that helps, both for you and Taalcon, it did for me with something else
posted
Yeap, something like that... I think... Anyway, what you DON'T want to do is to add bonuses/punishments for the green/red numbers. If you do that, you'll soon become sick and tired of your method. On second thought, just bonuses could be nice Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Ah, I just remembered: I had this problem with one person who didn't quite like my jokes or my attitudes. I cared enough in order to control myself and not do it anymore. It might not be the same thing, as this was a friend of mine, not a co-worker, but the thing is: it worked !
Taalcon, what's your friend's problem, exactly ? And with whom ?
posted
Take up smoking. Then, everytime you want to say something, take a nice long puff on your cigar. That should give you time enough to realize that what you want to say is inappropriate.
Of coures, the smoking will eventually kill you. Hey, telling the 300lb linebacker that his mother is ugly will get you killed a whole lot faster.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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First, there's only one O in my name. Two A's, One O.
Second, the friend just will NEVER shut up. And If I'm not listening, they'll find the closest stranger to continue talking to.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
Dan actually has a great suggestion. You just need something like either smoking or sipping water that will give you an excuse to pause before you speak.
My personal technique is scratching my chin. Everytime a coworker says something, I always scratch my chin and nod my head a little before I speak. I am therefore able to filter out gems like "You are SO getting fired" and "Like hell I want to go drinking with you as if I don't see enough of your ugly mug at work."
Of course, if only I could install a Hatrack filter so I stop offending people.... Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I just gave up smoking - I very rarely have one (unless I visit my mom, in which case, they become life support) - besides, smoking is not allowed in government buildings. . . . water and tally marks it is - Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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